Sean Ainsworth

Sean Ainsworth is Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board at Immusoft, a Seattle-based cell therapy company, and has 25 years of experience in pharmaceuticals and biotechnology. Mr. Ainsworth has served as a member of the Ocuphire Board since April 2018 and currently serves as the Lead Independent Director of the Board. Previously, he founded and led RetroSense Therapeutics, a gene therapy company he advanced into human clinical trials and sold to Allergan in 2016 in a deal valued at up to $555 million. Earlier, he was deeply involved in the launch of Compendia Bioscience, Inc., and GeneVivo, LLC. At both, he assisted in developing business models, licensing technologies, building management teams, and securing capital and first customers. Life Technologies acquired Compendia BioScience in 2012. Mr. Ainsworth founded Ainsworth BioConsulting in 2004 to provide licensing, as well as strategic and business planning services to the life science and entrepreneurial community. His clients included large pharmaceutical companies, small biotechnology companies, universities, clinical research organizations, and venture investment funds. He has worked with clients at all stages of development. His other professional experience includes research at the Medical Biology Institute (now Avanir Pharmaceuticals, developers of Abreva, the leading cold sore medication), intellectual property at Koyama and Associates in Tokyo, and international corporate development consulting at The Mattson Jack Group. Mr. Ainsworth earned a B.S. in Microbiology from University of California, San Diego and an M.B.A. in strategy and finance from Washington University in St. Louis.